Booz Allen says it's fired Snowden after NSA leak

This image made available by The Guardian Newspaper in London shows NSA Wistleblower Edward Snowden. The 29-year-old American who works as a contract employee at the National Security Agency is the source of The Guardian's disclosures about the U.S. government's secret surveillance programs, the British newspaper reported Sunday, June 9, 2013. The leaks have reopened the post-Sept. 11, 2001, debate about privacy concerns versus heightened measure to protect against terrorist attacks, and led the NSA to ask the Justice Department to conduct a criminal investigation. The Guardian said it was publishing the identity of Edward Snowden, a former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, at his own request. (AP Photo/The Guardian, Ewen MacAskill)

The McLean, Va.-based firm says in a statement that it fired Snowden "for violations of the firm's code of ethics and firm policy." It said he had earned a salary of $122,000 a year.

Snowden had identified himself as the person who leaked top-secret information. He fled to Hong Kong in hopes of escaping criminal charges.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

PHOTO: This image made available by The Guardian Newspaper in London shows NSA Wistleblower Edward Snowden. The 29-year-old American who works as a contract employee at the National Security Agency is the source of The Guardian's disclosures about the U.S. government's secret surveillance programs, the British newspaper reported Sunday, June 9, 2013. The leaks have reopened the post-Sept. 11, 2001, debate about privacy concerns versus heightened measure to protect against terrorist attacks, and led the NSA to ask the Justice Department to conduct a criminal investigation. The Guardian said it was publishing the identity of Edward Snowden, a former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, at his own request. (AP Photo/The Guardian, Ewen MacAskill)